In a sort of Runic rhyme
by Koieeshnakof
Summary: A series of drabbles, each exactly 100 words about individual characters, major and minor.
1. The Mirror

**The Mirror**

He is Harry Potter, the boy who lived. The boy who fought, who loved, and who lost. The boy who cried, who broke and who tried to forget. Tried to blend in. It never did much good. Tried to be strong. For so long, he succeeded. Tried to fight, and hated himself when he realized that he could. He is Harry Potter, the boy who never asked for the fame, the pressure, the pain. He never asked for the ache in his heart, the impossible task. But he's Harry Potter, and so it was handed to him. Simple as that.


	2. Silence

**Silence**

Hermione Granger needs to feel. She needs to slow, stop, breathe. She's been running for too long. Fighting for too long. Her body isn't tired, but her mind is. Her body doesn't register the pain, though her brain does. Her body goes on, though her heart is breaking. She wants to stop, scream for silence, stillness, but no one would listen. There's a war going on, and soldiers do not stop for rest. Hermione's a soldier. She is part of an unofficial war, part of a struggle for survival and she will keep on fighting. She is a dying breed.


	3. Straight Lines

**Straight Lines**

If there is good and evil, Albus Dumbledore wonders where he really stands. He'd prefer to take the place between and watch both sides and taste each one, for absolution wears on the soul. He'd prefer to be the crucible, and feel the black and white, the hot and cold, tear away inside him, for life should not be easy, and sometimes people are gray. He could not claim true goodness, and he is honest enough to admit that he is not cruel. But mistakes can not be erased, and Albus isn't fool enough to mark himself as a saint.


	4. Just Once More

**Just Once More**

Hagrid wishes things had turned out differently. He knows the fight is coming, knows the battle is here, and wonders how he will die. There is no possibility, no question in his mind. He cannot live through another war. He thinks back to his expulsion. He thinks of Aragog, lifeless on his back. Of Harry, bitter from so much fighting. He thinks of Grawp with his wild brute-like eyes, and thinks fleetingly of Madame Maxime. A sniff… He wipes his face on his spotted handkerchief and wishes he could set up Christmas trees in the Great Hall, just once more.


	5. Neither

**Neither**

When the sun blazes its golden path across the sky, and there is no reason for fear, Draco wonders why his arm is branded with a skull. He touches the mark and mocks himself for his stupidity. He didn't need to choose this. Yet when the moon creeps up, past the mountains, to hang ominously in a velvet sky, he remembers that fear is the greatest persuader. He wonders what he could have done. He remembers Dumbledore's words… "Soon we will have to decide between doing what is easy and what is right." He realizes he chose to do neither.


	6. Change

**Change**

Ginny Weasley sometimes looks at old photographs. She picks through old newspaper clippings and turns to look at her friends. They're so different now. The smiles are gone from their faces, and she doesn't believe it's temporary. They are older, sadder… Broken. Ginny Weasley is still fighting. She looks at pictures of herself and sees a little girl with strong eyes and tough expression. She hasn't changed. She looks at her reflection. She is scarred and bloodied and looks twenty years older. She is barely recognizable. She looks back at her picture, at the strong eyed girl. She hasn't changed.


	7. Truth

**Truth**

Ron Weasley only wanted acknowledgement. He didn't want this. He didn't want his world to be torn from him, prized away from his struggling hands. He didn't want to fight, to lose. He didn't want to watch the people around him die. He didn't want to wait for it to happen to him. He didn't want to feel so helpless, so hopeless. Ron Weasley only wanted a bit of fame, a bit of adventure. He only wanted a change, only wanted a chance. He never wanted half the things he got, and didn't get half the things he ever wanted.


End file.
